Hugh Guiler had met and married Anais Nin in 1923. In 1924 they moved to Paris where Guiler concealed his burgeoning interest in image making under the pseudonym Ian Hugo. In 1940 he studied etching and engraving at Hayter's Atelier 17. His subject matter was exclusively dreams and the unconscious which naturally extended into his experimental films which capitalised on a sense of the kinetic in his prints.